Newspaper Page Text
O
O
THE
ACKSON
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H Wednesday, April 6, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 43 48 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<t COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Hospital gets a new
name page 1OA
•State budget still
unresolved ... .page 8A
Op/Ed:
•'Infected by linguis
tic lunach'. . . page 4A
Sports:
•Panthers pick up lop
sided win .... page 1B
Features:
•Ready, set, garden
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Legals
pages 8-24C
•Church News
page 11B
•Obituaries
page 9B
•School News
pages 6-8B
O -S
Pendergrass whistleblowers lose lawsuit
Attorney to file case in State Court
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE THREE Pendergrass “whistle
blowers” who alleged corruption among
Pendergrass leaders have lost their federal
lawsuit.
Senior U.S. District Judge William C.
O’Kelley ruled in favor of the city last
Thursday. The three, former city clerk
Katherine Rintoul, and ex-officers William
Gamer and Scott Rogers, initially filed the
lawsuit in 2009, after they lost their jobs
in what they called unconstitutional retali
ation by Pendergrass officials.
Attorney Nancy Val Preda said Tuesday
that she plans to file a lawsuit in State
Court on behalf of Gamer and Rintoul.
The three whistleblowers alleged
that they discovered and reported cor
rupt activities by city administrator Rob
Russell, Mayor Monk Tolbert and some
city council members. Some of those
actions were brought to the attention of
Tolbert and Russell in 2009 and the whis
tleblowers later said they lost their jobs as
retaliation.
The alleged offenses included improper
use of sales tax revenue by Russell, who
also used city-owned equipment for main
tenance on his property; hiring an illegal
immigrant to work for the city; “fixing”
citations issued by the police department;
and using a city-issued credit card for
personal purchases.
Judge O’Kelley ruled that while the
whistleblowers claimed that city offi
cials committed criminal acts, the former
employees didn’t prove the acts were part
of a criminal conspiracy.
“The simple fact that defendants may
have engaged in criminal behavior does
not make this case fall within the criminal
conspiracy exception,” O’Kelley wrote.
“The subject of the alleged conspiracy
was to retaliate against plaintiffs by ter
minating their employment. Plaintiffs do
not allege that this object was criminal.
Thus, the subject of the conspiracy is not
criminal in nature.”
The judge also ruled against a motion
by Gamer, who resigned in September
2009 from an allegedly hostile work envi
ronment. Rintoul and Rogers had been
fired in July 2009.
Judge O’Kelley said Gamer failed to
show in the court proceedings that his
work environment and conditions had
become so unbearable that a reasonable
person would be forced to resign.
The judge, however, dismissed a coun
terclaim by city officials that Rintoul was
responsible for a variety of unauthorized
charges to the city’s credit card that totaled
$5,788. City officials said in court docu
ments that the former city clerk knew that
an ex-police investigator was making the
purchases, but approved them anyway.
THOUSANDS OF TOMATO PLANTS
Some Jackson County 4-H’ers took time during spring break to transplant tomato
plants to be sold as a club fundraiser. Jeremiah Patterson (front) concentrates on his
work. Alex Wirthman, Shelby Crane, Josiah Patterson, parent Angela Patterson, Levi
Patterson, Anna Patterson and program coordinator Penni Tench also participated.
More than 2,000 plants — 72 flats — will be available for pick-up between April 13-15.
The cost is $2 per plant, and varieties include Better Boy, Rutgers, Select and Cherokee
Purple. For more information, call 706-367-6344. Photo by Jana Mitcham
Power outages, downed trees reported
BYANGELA GARY
STRONG WINDS andheavy
rain passed through Jackson
County Monday night leaving
some countians without power
and others with downed trees
on their property.
“Last night, we in Jackson
County escaped the most seri
ous storms,” EMS director
Steve Nichols said Tuesday
morning. “It looks to be much
better today.”
The county 911 department
received calls about three
power lines being down, 29 Jackson County emergency services had calls about
trees downed and hundreds of 29 trees downed by Monday night’s storm. Here, a tree
continued on page 8A had fallen across power lines in Jefferson.
County advertising
for manager’s job
THE JOB description for a
county manager has been updat
ed and the county is now adver
tising to fill the position.
Interim manager Leonard
Myers reviewed the job descrip
tion with the commissioners
and finalized it this week. An
ad to fill the position has now
been posted.
The job summary for the posi
tion is “plans, directs and man
ages the activities of the Jackson
County government and pro
vides guidance and support to
the county commissioners b\
performing a variety of highly
professional responsibilities anc
serving as a liaison between the
county commission, other elect
ed officials, county employee;
and residents.”
County manager Darrel
Hampton resigned two week;
ago after being asked to do sc
by the board of commission
ers. Myers was named interin
county manager. He has servec
as interim manager severa
times.
County submits ‘wish list’
of T-SPLOST projects
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
LIKE KIDS writing to Santa,
Jackson County officials have
amassed a wish fist of 20 road
projects that would cost more
than $180 million they’d like to
see funded by a proposed new
sales tax to be voted on next
year.
Last Thursday was the dead
line for counties to submit proj
ect fists for potential funding via
a regional transportation special
purpose local option sales tax
(T-SPLOST) expected to go to
the voters Aug. 21,2012.
Jackson is lumped with 11
other counties in a “transporta
tion roundtable” that will decide
which projects are ultimately
submitted to voters. If the tax
passes, it is expected to generate
between $750 million and $1
billion over 10 years.
It’s a truly optimistic local
list. Projects range from
improvements to the inter
section of Hoods Mill Road
and Waterworks Road near
the East Jackson school com
plex, at a cost of $760,000,
to the proposed eastern bypass
of Jefferson estimated to cost
See the ‘wish
list’ on page 8A
upwards of $31 million.
Eighteen of the 20 Jackson
County projects (and 96 percent
of the cost) are on the west side
of the county.
Across the district, more than
100 projects have been submit
ted. according toHunterBicknell,
chairman of the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners.
“Some counties had relative
ly few,” he said. “Some of the
smaller counties submitted in
the three to five range.”
Now comes the tough part -
winnowing the 12-county master
fist down to something that can
be submitted to voters across the
district to entice them to com
mit to a new one-cent sales tax.
The tax must pass district-wide,
and individual counties cannot
opt out if voters of a particular
county fail to support the tax.
Before that happens, the
fist will be sent to the Georgia
Department of Transportation.
“We are to have our collection
(all the projects sent to us) into
continued on page 8A
Portion of Pendergrass Flea Market destroyed by fire Sun.
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
AN EARLY MORNING
fire destroyed a portion of the
Pendergrass Flea Market on
Sunday, according to firefight
ers.
One of eight wings at the
250,000 square-foot indoor flea
market collapsed during the
blaze, which required a response
from four fire departments in
Jackson County.
“Once we got on the scene,
there were flames coming out of
the roof,” said Darrell Chaisson,
assistant chief of the Jefferson
Fire Department.
The Pendergrass Flea Market
is located on U.S. 129 in the
Jefferson city limits and bills
itself as the largest flea mar
ket in Georgia. It includes more
than 2.5 miles of storefronts with
more than 500 booths and is
open on the weekends, accord
ing to its website.
The fire occurred on the 3rd
and 4th East Avenues, accord
ing to the flea market’s web
site. Concerned about security,
the flea market was closed on
Sunday, but will reopen next
weekend. The facility was slated
to open on Monday for vendors.
Chaisson said a passerby
reported the fire just before 1
a.m. on Sunday. The fire was
limited to one wing of the build
ing, where fire doors automati
cally closed and contained the
blaze.
continued on page 8A
LARGE COMMERCIAL FIRE
A fire destroyed one of eight wings at the Pendergrass Flea Market early Sunday
morning. Photo provided by the Jefferson Fire Department